Gut cleaning machine



Dec. 26, 1933. E. w. THOMPSON ET AL 1,941,118

GUT CLEANING MACHINE Filed Aug. 4, 1930. 6 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 26, 1933.E. w. THOMPSON El AL 1,941,118

GUT CLEANING MACHINE Filed Aug. 4, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 a m mwvn QM,

Dec- 26, 1933- E. w. THOMPSON ET AL 1,118

GUT CLEANING MACHINE Fi-led Aug. 4, 1950 e Sheets-Sheet s Dec. 26, 1933.w, THOMPSON ET AL 1,941,118

GUT CLEANING MACHINE Filed Aug. 4, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Dec. 26, 1933,E. w. THOMPSON ET AL 1,941,118

GUT CLEANING MACHINE Filed Aug. 4, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 29773 672 15% Ea r1 11/: Maw 9.5077 William 0%[765677 J07??? E E7715 Dec. 26, 1933. E.w. THOMPSON ET AL 1,941,118

GUT CLEANING MACHINE Filed Aug. 4, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Patented Dec.26, 1933 UNITED S TES PATENT OFFICE 7 This invention relatestoimprovements inmachines for cleaning gut; or animal intestines, and moreespecially to the process of removing the mucous membrane, fattysubstance and other tissues which are found on the inner side of thecasing membrane, the invention being more Particularly adapted forcleaning the gut after -it has beenslit into strips. l I Objects of theinvention are to provide a machine which will operate in a thorough andeflicient manner to remove the tissue and also the growths or scalewhich may have adhered to'the membrane, without breaking or "damagingthegut; to provide effective means for pulling the I gut through themachine in collections or bunches of strips, and to provide a machine inwhich the traction on the strips of gut is ve y positive and the stripsare pulled alongevenly.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the followingdescription, with ref erence to the accompanying drawings, in whichillustrative embodiments of our invention are shown. I

In the drawings, a

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the gut cleaning machine. p

Fig. 2 is a view of the right-hand side of the machine, looking. fromthe front, with the upper and lower portions of the frame broken away;

ing connection taken onthe line 8-8 of Fig. '3.

Fig. 9 is a section including thev parts shown in Fig. 8, taken on theline 9-1-9 of Fig. 2.

.Fig. 10 is a detail section taken on theline 10-10 of Fig. 3. V

Fig. 11 is a side view of the machine with parts omitted. I V

Fig. 12 is a section on line 12--12 of Fig. 11. The machine has abuilt-up steel frame 11 havingthe pair of horizontal bearing supportrails 12-13, and the rails 1415 above the rails 12-13, supported fromone side. by the cantilever arms 16. j n

At the front of the machine, and fixedly supported from the upper rails14 and 15, are bear- Fig. 3 is a plan section substantially on the.

'ing members 17 which-is rotatably mounted the shaft 18,, of the bladedscraping cylinder 20.

Below the scraping cylinder 20 and ofisetto the ,rear is a movableplatenrroller 21, the shaft 22 of the roller being rotatablymount'edkin' the ends of arms 23 which are fixed on a rock-shaft 24which is rotatably mounted in bearing memvbers 25 bolted to the rails12-and 13. Rearwardly projectingarms 27 are pinnedxto the shaft 24 ateach side of the cylinder 21 and-at the opposite sides of thebearings25, to which arms are connected :the coil springs 28 which serveto' press the platen cylinder towards the. cutting cylinder, the lowerends of the springs being attached to the frame, as shown in Fig.3 2.For regulating the space between'the cylinders, adjustable stops areprovided by the set screws 29, .which are threaded through laterallyprojecting portions 30 of the arms 27 and contact with the uppersurfaces of the rails 12 and 13. n 7

Inthis 'manner the platen roller is resiliently supported to bearagainst the scraping cylinder in a tangential direction, since thedirection or line of pressure between adjacent portions of the twocylinders does not pass through their axes, but to one side, as shown-bythe'arrow A in Figs. 4 and 5. The'spacing may be minutely'adju'sted bythe set screws so that the rollers do not actually come in contact,which would result in cutting the gut, but are sufficiently close offthe tissue and other matter.

For inserting the gut strips between the cylinders, the platen cylindermay be moved down away from thescrapingblades 45 of thecylinder 20, andagainst the action of the springs 28 by means of a foot lever '31. Thefoot lever is mounted on the base of the frame, and his piv-- otallyconnected to the lever 32 by the connecting rod 33, the lever 32 beingmounted on and rigidly pinned to the shaft 24. I

For drawing the gut G through between" the cylinders, thepulling-rollers 35, 36,-37'are pro-' vided, rotatably mounted on fiXedbearings 38, bolted to the rails 12 and 13 and the pressure rollers 39.and 40 which reston the fixed rollers 100 in the intervals therebetweeneOn the rear ends of the rails 12 and 13, is rotatably'mounted a toscrape take-01f roller 41. This roller is connected to the :Fig. 4 bythe motor 42,.mourited on the frame,

through the speed reducer 43 and the chain belt 44; and the cylinder 20is'similarly rotated, so 1 0 that the blades 45, of the cylinder, moveagainst the direction of the travel of the gut, by the motor 46, whichis connected through the speed reducer 47 and chain belt 48 to the shaft18. The speed ratios are such that the cylinder is rotated much fasterthan the pulling roller, so that a large number, sixty or more, of theblades operate on each inch of length of the gut.

The platen cylinder 21 is rotated counterclockwise by means of the spurgear 50, keyed on the shaft 22, meshing with a gear 51, rotatablygagement with the pullingirollers 35, 36 and 37,.

two pairs of depending bearing brackets are bolted to the upper rails 14and 15. Rotatably mounted in each pair of brackets is a' rock,- shaft 56to which is secured a lever 57 which is pivotally connected toa suitablefoot lever 151 by the rod 58.

On each rock-shaft 56is loosely mounted a swing frame 60, in the ends ofthe arms 59 .of which are rotatably mounted the pressure rollers. Eachswing frame has two projecting portions 61', which are slotted toembrace the rockshaft 56 to permittransverse movement relative thereto..Fo'r causing the swing frame to rotate with the shaft 56, yoke members62 are pinned to the shaft at the sides of the frame portions 61, whichyoke members have armsv 64'which embrace the adjoining portion of theframe andrestrict the frame to movements transverse to the axis of theshaft.

The pressure rollers are also positively connected to the lower rollerfor co-rotational driving by an extensible miterr-gear arrangement. Thisarrangement, for the roller 40, is. as follows:

The gears 66 and 67 are, respectively, fixedly mounted .onand connectedto the rollers 35 and 39 and mesh with gears 68 and 69 rotatably mountedin the housings 70. The housings 70 are revolvably mounted on the hubsof the-gears 66 and 67, and the gears 68 and 69 are connected bytheshaft 71, which ispinned in one gear 69 and is slidably keyedin the gear68, as best shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. r

In this mounting, described above, the pres sure rollers have a limiteduniversal freedom of so that a yielding pressure is applied to the gut.

Beveling the leading edges of the cylinder blades 45, as best shown inFig. 5, has the effect of causing the acute angular contact with the gutwhich is necessary for scraping the surface without cutting; and thedirection of the tangential pressure between the cylinders "is nevergreater than a right angle, as shown in Fig. 5.

For ensuring thorough scraping of both sides :a number of s'trips'aretied together at one end of the giit, a bladed platen roller 72 may beprovided, as shown in Fig. 6. The roller 72 is also rotated at a slowerrate than the upper roller, and has a greater number of blades 73. Inoperation several of the upper blades 45 sweep over the end of each ofthe blades 73 as the gut is being drawn between at acomparatively slowrate. However inmost instances .blades are provided on only one of thescraping rolls, and the other, or platen roll is allowed to idle.

The matter of facilitating the insertion and handling the gut becomes ofconsiderable importance in the operation of the machine on account .ofthe; frequency of the insertion of new batches of strips. -Forconvenience in handling,

in batches, and the strips are scraped back for about one yard from theend to avoid the danger of injury to the operator if he had to take holdof the strips too close to the scraping blades.

-The cooperating scraping and pulling rollers are separated, and the gutis laid over theplaten which is then released to'start scraping,;thetied ends-of the'strips being pulled along over the pull ing rollers andthe take off roller and the pressure rollers lowered as the endpassesunder.

I The provision of the C shaped frame, as shown and described, with themutually cooperating members mou'nted respectively on the upper'andlower portions of the frame leaves the space between the members, whenseparated, entirely unobstructed for the insertionof the gut. The-gut isstraightened out and held in the hands with "the arms spread apart, andis passed directly into the machine and laid on the lower members, 310

and it is not necessary to loosenthe hold onthe gut nor to pass the gutfrom one hand to the other as is required in the prior machines togetaround supports or to wrap the gut around rollers.

The foot lever 151 is extended into close rem-I15 tion withthe footlever 31 to enable the operator at the front of the machine to step onboth of the levers at the same time. The operator at the front of themachine steps on both levers to lower the. platen and raise the firstpulling pressure roller and lays in the gut with a hand at either sideofthe scraping roller; He then moves his 'foot over and off from thelever 31 to release the platen to start scraping. Thenhe pulls the-gutthe machine who has raised the second pressure roller. The first.operator-letsthe first pressure roller downias the .gut passes underand returns to the front of the machine where-he iskept busystraightening out the'gut and. working the refuse. with his hands.Meanwhile the second operator carries the end along, lowering the secondpressure rolleryand'out'over the take-off roller where he stands andkeeps a slight tension on the gutand watchestoseertha-t broken stripsfgg do not become wrapped-around the rollers. 'By this arrangement it isnot necessary to start and stop the ma'chine -each'time a new batch isstarted-th'rough, and the power'for' starting the 1118.- ehine is saved.

While but one illustrative embodiment and a single modification of ourinventionfhas been shown and'des'cribed, many omissions and alterationsmay be had withoutdeparting from'the spirit of the invention, as definedin the followins piaims. I 1

What is claimed is:-

1. In a gut cleaning machine, meansfor pulling the got through themaehine, comprising two parallel rollers in spaced relation, apressureroller mounted on pivotally supported hearings to swing intocontact with said rollers, the pivotal mounting being loose so that thepressure roller is free to shift so as to bear againstboth of said,

rollers, and means for driving the rollers.

2. The combination, in a gut cleaning machine, of a frame, two pullingrollers rotatably mounted on the frame in parallel and spaced relation,a rock-shaft rotatably mounted on the frame above the two rollers, aswinging frame loosely connected to the rock-shaft, a pressure rollerrotatably mounted in the swinging frame to rest on the two pullingrollers,' a yoke fixed to the rock-shaft and embracing the swing frame,and means for driving the rollers.

3. The combination in a gut cleaning machine of a frame, two gut pullingrollers rotatably mounted on the frame, a rock-shaft rotatably mountedin the frame, a swing frame transverse- 1y slidable on the rock-shaft, apressure roller rotatably mounted in'the swing frame to bear against thetwo rollers, means for driving the rollers in co-operative relation, andmeans for rotating the rock-shaft to move the pressure roller into andout of engagement.

l. In a gut cleaning machine, two pulling rollers and a pressure rollerresting on both of the pulling rollers, means for raising and loweringthe pressure roller, means for rotating the two pulling rollers in thesame direction, and an extensible connection from one of the pullingrollers forrrotating the pressure roller in co-- operative .relationtherewith, said connection comprising a telescoping shaft and bevelgears for connecting the shaft to the one pulling roller and to thepressure roller.

5. In a gut cleaning machine, a bladed scraping cylinder and a movableplaten cylinder cooperating therewith, three pulling rollers for drawingthe gut through between said cylinders, two pressure rollers'movablymounted to rest on the pulling rollers respectively in theintervalstherebetween, a corrugated roller for pulling the gut from the pullingrollers; means for rotating the cylinders and the rollers, andmanually-operable means for disengaging the platen cylinder and thepressure rollers for the insertion of the gut.

6. In a gut cleaning machine, a bladed scraping cylinder and aco-operative platen, means for drawing the gut through between thecylincler and platen and for kneading the'gut, comprising two spacedpulling rollers and a pressure roller resting on both of the pullingrollers in the interval therebetween, and means for rotating thecylinder and all three rollers. I

'7. In a gut cleaning machine, a scraping roller having a plurality ofclosely spaced resilient lon-' gitudinal blades and constantly rotatedin fixed bearings, a rock-shaft mounted parallel to the scraping rollerfor rotational movement, spaced arms fixed on the rock-shaft, a platenrollerrotatably mounted in the outer ends of the arms, resilient meansfor rotating the rock-shaft to move the platen roller against thescraping roller, and adjustable stops associated with the arms forregulating the space between the rollers.

8. In a gut cleaning machine, a 0 frame, scraping means mounted on theupper and lower portions of the frame, said means being in cooperativerelation for scraping the gut, pulling rollers mounted on the lowerportion of the frame, and pressure rollers movably mounted on the upperportion of the frame, the'pressure rollers being mounted so as to reston both of the pulling ers are unobstructed for the; insertion of thegut.

9. In a gut cleaning machine, a 6 frame, a platen, pulling rollers, anda take-off roller mounted 'on the lower portion of the frame in theorder mentioned, a scraping roller cooperating with the platen andmovably supported pressure rollers resting on the pulling rollers, thescraping roller and the pressure rollers being supported in the upperportionof the frame so that the space therein when the pressure rollersare raised is unobstructed for the insertion of the gut.

10. In a gut cleaning machine, a 0 frame, a platen and three pullingrollers consecutively mounted on the lower portion of the frame, ascraping roller mounted in the upper portion of the frame forcooperating with the platen, and two yokes pivotally mounted in saidupper portion, a pressure roller rotatably mounted in the arms of eachyoke, the yokes being arranged so that one pressure roller rests on thepulling rollers in each interval therebetween, means for lowering theplaten, means for raising the first pressure roller related with saidmeans so that it may be operated'in conjunction therewith, andindependent means for raising the second pressure roller, so that thesecond pressure roller may be left down for, pulling the last end of thegut through the machine while the platen is lowered and the-firstpressure roller is lifted to insert the first end of a new length ofgut, the rollers being rotated continuously.

11. In a gut cleaning machine, a C frame, means mounted on the frame forscraping the gut, and means for pulling the gut through said meanscomprising two spaced driven rollers mounted on' the lower portion ofthe frame, a yoke loosely pivoted to the upper portion of the frame, apressure roller journaled in the arms of the yoke for resting on both ofthe pulling rollers in the interval therebetween, and means forrotatingthe yoke for lifting the pressure roller out of engagement withthe pulling rollers.

, 12. In a gut cleaning machine, a 0 frame, separable cooperative meansmounted respectively on the upper and lower portions of the frame forcleaning the gut, two spaced pulling rollers mounted on the lowerportion of the frame, a pressure roller swingingly mounted on the upperportion of the machine to rest on both of the pulling rollers, afootlever for separating the scraping means when pressed, and a foot leverfor lifting the pressureroller, said levers being in close positionalrelation for simultaneous operation with one foot, the scraping meansand the pressure and pulling rollers being mounted sothatthe spacestherebetween are unobstructed for the insertion ofthe gut.

I 13. In a gut cleaning'machine', a 0 frame, a platen and three spacedpulling rollers rotatably mounted on the lower portion of the frame for

